Droshos - Torah In A Working Person's Life

Being Ready To Receive The Torah

When Hashem asked the Jews at Har Sinai if they want to receive the Torah, everyone answered, “Naaseh v’nishmah” – “We will do and we will hear.”

Every Shavuos, we have a new chance to receive the Torah again.

Some Questions to Ask Yourself Before Shavuos

1) How many people truly receive the Torah again anew on Shavuos? Imagine if Hashem would come to us and ask all of us if we want the Torah. Would we say “Naaseh v’nishmah” so fast?

2) Moshe Rabbeinu told the Jews in Egypt that they would be redeemed and go to the desert to receive the Torah and then go to Eretz Yisrael. How would we react if we heard that Hashem is giving the Torah in Eretz Yisrael? Would we quickly run and buy the next flight to Israel, or would we first check with our parents and family to see if they agree?

3) For every word that came out of Hashem’s mouth at Har Sinai, every person’s soul there left him, and then it returned to him miraculously by the word of Hashem. Would we be prepared for this? If we would want to accept the Torah nowadays, would we be prepared to go through such an experience - that our souls should leave our bodies?

4) Of course, we only received the Torah once, and there will not be another giving of the Torah; we believe that “This Torah shall not be exchanged.” But how much do we, personally, really want the Torah?

5) We have three regalim – Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos. We all look forward to Pesach and Sukkos. But what about Shavuos? Do we look forward to Shavuos? Is there anyone who waits for Shavuos?

Don’t Wait For Shavuos – Accept the Torah Now!

In order to really want the festival of Shavuos, we need to prepare for it a lot. The Sefer HaChinuch says that the mitzvah of sefiras haomer is to count down the days to Shavuos, when we receive the Torah, so we see that we need 49 days of preparation for Shavuos. In order to really gain from Shavuos, we have to prepare for it and want it.

I met someone who always goes to kevarim and to holy sites; he always goes to Kever Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai every Lag B’Omer. I asked him, “How come you don’t go to Har Sinai? Why is it that people don’t want to see Har Sinai and reflect upon what happened there? How come people aren’t enthusiastic about going to Har Sinai, just like people wish to see the Beis HaMikdash when they go to the Kosel?” He didn’t have an answer. But there is an answer. The Sages say that “Torah remains in a corner, and whoever wants can come and take it.” Torah is really found everywhere, all over the world. We don’t have to wait for Shavuos to receive the Torah, because Torah is everywhere. Don’t wait for Shavuos in order to strengthen your connection to Torah. It is impossible to live without the Torah for even one day!

“Marrying” The Torah

Moshe Rabbeinu separated from his wife Tzipporah after forty years, in order to receive prophecy. The question is, why was he allowed to this – isn’t it forbidden for a man to remain unmarried? I once heard an answer to this: The Torah is called by our Sages an “aishes chayil” – the wife – of a Talmid Chochom (Torah scholar). Therefore, the Torah was like the “wife” of Moshe Rabbeinu.

Who is prepared to dedicate himself to the Torah, to make a bris (covenant) with the Torah? To make a bris with the Torah, it is not enough to simply say the words. It’s like giving Kiddushin to your wife to marry her! The Torah is called a person’s wife! Nobody marries a woman he doesn’t like. Anyone who gets married thinks that the woman he is marrying is a good woman, the best woman in the world. We must realize that the Torah is a good wife to us – not a bad wife.

Correcting Our False View of Reality

People don’t realize how much of a lie this world is; the very thought in a person that maybe there is something out there in the world other than the Torah is a lie.

People erroneously think that marriage, children and livelihood are more important in their life than learning the Torah. This is also an example of falsity. Of course, we have to be normal and be concerned about our family and livelihood. But we must realize that there is nothing we really have in our life other than learning Torah! It is the most important part of our life.

How To View Our Need To Make Parnassah

We are talking about what a person essentially feels connected to. When a person feels very attached to his job, or to other things, he is not really living like a Jew.

Shavuos is the test for a person to ask himself: “What do I really want out of my life? Do I really want a life of Torah…?”

Is the Torah the main point of your life when you go to work? Most people would answer, “It’s true, the Torah is the main thing, but in the end of the day, we have to go make a living.” But the correct attitude we should have toward working is that it is only secondary in our life to learning Torah. We should look at work the same way we look at going to sleep. Of course we have to go to sleep, but nobody believes that going to sleep is the main point of our life just because we need it. So just because we have to go to work doesn’t mean that it is the main point of our life.

Do we feel how making a living is really a curse we have to endure? Really, parnassah is a curse of this exile. Do we feel that really it’s a curse? Of course it’s important, and we know that there is such a thing as “the key to livelihood” which Hashem has. But we must know that Torah is even more important. If Hashem would give us a choice: “Do you want the Torah, or would you instead want to have a good parnassah and be very rich (but you won’t have the Torah)”, what would we choose? What would we answer? Would we say, “Chazal say that if there is no kemach (flour), there is no Torah”, therefore, we have to go to work…”?

The Sages say that one must have “Torah with Derech Eretz” – that a person should learn together with earning a living. We also find in the Gemara that Reb Yochanan HaSandlar went to work for a living because he said, “If there is no flour, there is no Torah.” But that was back then, when people were always thinking about Hashem. To Reb Yochanan HaSandlar, Torah was his main point of life.

The Gemara says that there are ten kavin (amounts) of speech given to the world. I think it can be said of today that there are ten kinds of parnassah in the world today. Today, the situation of making a parnassah has become like going to Gehinnom on this world! Going to work to earn a livelihood is really a curse.

What is the proper attitude to have, then, if we have to go to work? We need to feel that our life and our soul is connected to the Torah – and not to our livelihood.

The Truth

The words here are the simple truth. Everyone at some point will one day understand this – even if a person doesn’t understand how it is true now, after 120 years when he dies, he will finally realize it. The way of life in America is a world of lies. People are looking at work as the main part of their life, while Torah is just a side thing. It is not the way of our fathers and teachers.

We have to become connected to the Torah from the depths of our soul. We should all be zoche to learn the Torah the way we should.